Rita and Dodger's Puppies
by WickedlyRita
Summary: A story about the puppies of Dodger and Rita
1. Arrival

It was early morning; the sky was still dark as the sun was only just appearing. Rita was sitting out on the barge enjoying the cool air. She was in the later stages of pregnancy and had taken a few moments to be on her own with her future little ones, as the attention she'd been getting was a bit much.

"Not long, huh? Are you OK out here?"

Rita turned around to see Dodger, who had just woken up.

"I'm fine honey; I just wanted a little time to myself." When Dodger turned apologetically turned away, she added, "It's alright, you don't have to go."

Dodger sat down beside her and she gently licked his ear. "I think it might be soon, I've just got a feeling." She looked him straight in the face, "I'm a little nervous, what if something goes wrong?"

"Hey, they've got Dodger genes; nothing could go wrong with them." Dodger replied reassuringly. "I'll stay home with you today, just in case."

"Thanks Dodgie-baby."

The two dogs headed inside to find their companions were still sleeping. They quietly stole past them and curled up in the whelping box that Fagin had made for Rita. It was a shallow wooden box, lined with newspaper and filled with any cushions and blankets that they could find to make it comfortable. Like Rita's usual bed, it had a curtain around it which gave her a bit more privacy. It was just large enough to fit both dogs, as well as any puppies that might arrive.

The hours passed as the rest of the gang were out finding their next meal and any loot they could get their paws on.

In the barge, Dodger and Rita were passing the day pretty uneventfully. It was rather dull not being able to go anywhere, but Rita was quite used to this as she'd spent the past week at home. She'd been restless during the day and felt a growing sense that pups must be coming soon.

"Dodgie? Honey, I'm getting pains, I think it's time." Rita sounded out of breath, "I'm going to go to the box now, stay with me?"

"Absitively, I'm here for you Rit."

The next couple of hours were long and difficult, but Rita had never been happier. Two boy puppies were born first, then two girls and then another little boy. She looked down to her side where her five still-wet newborns were snuggled into her soft fur. With tears in her eyes she licked her little ones.

"I love you Rita." Dodger said quietly, and he licked her cheek. He was somewhat overcome by the whole thing and let his tough-guy thing slip a bit as he lay next to his mate and pups.

"I love you too", she said, nuzzling Dodger's face and resting her head against his. "Look at them Dodge, they're so beautiful." The whole time she was struggling to keep her eyes open, the birth had left her exhausted.

"Check it out Dodger, I gotcha something to eat!" Tito threw down a pitiful looking bit of partly eaten bread.

"Our most sincere apologies, there is little to show for our day's expenditure." Francis told him a bit miserably.

"I got this though!" Einstein proudly brandished an extremely scruffy teddy bear with a leg missing.

Dodger was grinning the whole time, which caused a few questioning looks.

"That bear might be useful Einy; we've got something to show you as well." Dodger laughed as his companions' eyes lit up expectedly. "You might have to wait, Rita's sleeping right now."

"It's OK, I'm awake." Rita called, sticking her head out of the box's curtains. "You guys want to meet the new members of the family?"

As the oohed and aahed over the tiny pups, Fagin arrived home with dinner for his canine family. He was shocked to discover twice as many dogs as when he left in the morning. Rita proudly shared her puppies with him, even allowing her master to hold the tiny pups.

"Nice job guys." Fagin said as he scratched Rita and Dodger's heads.


	2. The New Additions

Time had passed and the five puppies were now coming up to seven weeks old. Up to this point they had stayed on the boat, where it was safe for such young puppies, but today they had been promised their first very short outing into the city. The excitement of such a promise meant that a couple of the pups had trouble sleeping the night before; they had been wide awake with anticipation. They were all still sleeping in the home made whelping box with Rita and Dodger, and so they were both rather tired from being kept up by their excited offspring.

Lily was awake at the crack of dawn and was eager to get going, despite the sleepiness of her family, most of them anyway, the youngest, Nick was also keen for the days adventures to begin and awoke early after a night of limited sleep. Impatient, Lily left the box and quietly looked around for something to keep her occupied while she waited. She had great resemblance to her father in her colour pattern and her terrier-like ears, but was more like a sighthound in build and in her independent nature. Lily had a large resemblance to Dodger personality-wise as well, very confident, cocky and adventurous, of all the pups, it was she that Rita had to keep the closest eye on to make sure she didn't get herself into a pickle.

Nick watched after his sister from the box, but was happy to stay put and wait from the comfort of the cosy bed. He was the smallest of the litter, though was bold in personality, probably as he felt more of a need to prove himself than the others. He had a clowning, sweet, but sensitive side and was prone to taking offence where none was meant. Nick was slight in build with brown fur in the same shade as Rita's. He tugged on his father's ear.

"Dad, it's morning. Can we get up now, please?"

Dodger opened one bleary eye to look at his young son.

"Just a little longer kid, it's still pretty early." He said with a yawn.

By this time, the other three puppies were waking up. It took Robbie little more than a couple of seconds to be up and bouncing around, right on top of what was a sleeping Einstein. Luckily, Einstein was good natured as ever and soon enough he was bounding around and rolling on the floor with Robbie, Lily and Nick.

Robbie looked much like Dodger, except for his floppy ears and wild fur. It was more common for him to go by the name of 'Rascal' because he was incredibly mischievous. In his eyes, each day was for as much fun as could possibly be fit in, and was a very friendly little pup, though could be something of a wind up merchant.

The other two, Bandit and Dash watched, yawning from Rita's side.

"Are you ready for your big day?" she asked kindly.

"Yeah, it's gonna be so much fun. I wish we could stay out all day!" Bandit replied, grinning from ear to ear, thinking about the adventure ahead.

"What about you, sweetie?" Rita asked her little daughter.

Dash looked a little nervous. "I think so, it's a bit scary though, I've never been out in the big city before." She looked to her mother for reassurance.

"Honey, you're going to be just fine. We're all going to be out there with you, we won't let anything bad happen. Trust me, this is going to be fun."

Dash felt a bit better and went to join the others in their playtime. She was similar in size to Nick, and looked a bit like a scruffier version of her mother. She was a bit of a deep thinker, very clever and crafty, and very sweet natured and loving to those who she knows well. Her name was given because of her sighthound heritage, which she lived up to with a love of running around with her brothers and sister.

Bandit was the first born and a very laid back little man. He was exceptionally self-assured, bright and a very mellow fellow. He spent a lot of time with Rascal who was always happy to have an accomplice to help with his trouble-making. Bandit had dark brown fur, with a stocky build compared to his siblings, his face was much like Dodger's but more refined.

Half an hour later, Fagin had all his dogs pile into the back of his scooter, easier said than done now that there were ten of them. It was a bit of a squash, but thanks to the small stature of the puppies (and Tito!) they managed to all fit in. Rita felt a bit of butterflies in her stomach, feeling a little nervous for her little ones. With the pups huddling closely to their mother, father and uncles to avoid being thrown around, Fagin set of noisily into the city.


	3. A Morning Out

Fagin pulled into an alleyway and the dogs hopped out of the trolley, adults first. Dodger had to quickly grab hold of Robbie by his tail as he was a little too keen to get going and almost ran onto the road.

"Hang on there, Rascal. You've gotta look where you're going!"

Rita gently nuzzled her excited son. "Stick close to us." she told the pups, looking particularly at Nick and Lily who were making an attempt to wander off.

As the dogs set off into the city, Dash stayed as close as possible to Rita and looked around nervously as she went, getting startled by noisy voices and cars. She felt a bit silly for being scared. As they came to a road to cross Rita noticed her daughter's apprehension.

"Keep going guys," she called to the others and then turned to Dash. "Are you OK honey?"

"I guess I'm OK Mommy, I'm just a little nervous still." Dash looked up at her mother.

"Do you want to go for a little walk, just you and me? I'll be right there with you." Rita asked.

Dash nodded appreciatively.

"It's fine to be a bit scared, it's all new to you. I'll take you to Central Park, you'll like it there."

"That sounds nice Mommy." said Dash quietly.

Rita licked her little daughter on the cheek, and Dash felt a lot better.

Dash followed close to Rita as they reached the park. The scents were so interesting to the pup, like nothing she'd ever smelt before. As she followed her mother, Dash looked around curiously at everything all around her and sniffing at people as they passed them. Rita had to nudge Dash back over at one point when she tottered off after a child with an scrumptious smelling ice cream. As she walked by her mother's side Dash was growing in confidence and found she was enjoying herself.

Rita had seen the change in her daughter. "Do you want to go for a little run?"

Dash nodded with great enthusiasm and raced out across the grass. Rita ran after her, making sure not to run to fast so the pup could keep up. They collapsed on the grass and Dash playfully nipped at Rita's tail, before lying down next to her contentedly.

"Are you feeling better now, Dash sweetie?"

"Much better, I can't wait to tell everyone about all the things I've seen." She hesitated. "I'm still a tiny bit nervous about going out on the streets."

Rita looked down kindly at her little daughter. "When I was little, and I was new to all this , I was a bit nervous as well, the city's so big and there's so much to learn, it can be a little overwhelming. I was lucky that I had your dad around to help me, the world's so much less scary when you're not on your own."

"What about your mom? Wasn't she on the streets with you?"

"No, she was an uptown dog through and through, she hated that I was friends with your dad."

Dash hadn't known this, and felt glad that she had a whole family there to show her the ropes. She felt a bit braver, and followed her mother out of the park.

As they wandered along, Dash sniffed the air and kept an eye out for anything scary. She noticed a small group of people chatting amongst themselves. One of the men had their wallet sticking out slightly from the back pocket of their jeans. Dash saw an opportunity and whispered to Rita.

"Look Mom, I think I could get that!"

The two dogs crept up stealthily, and as they got close, Rita gently lifted her little daughter up. With her heart beating fast, Dash pulled out the wallet with her teeth. Despite being frightened of the possibility of getting caught she felt strangely safe knowing that Rita was there holding her. They quickly got out of there, with Dash holding on proudly to the wallet.

Bustling with excitement from their morning out, the four other puppies were waiting with the adults at the spot where Fagin had left them. Robbie was quite messy, been playing with wet paint. He'd managed to get blue paint over Dodger, who had tried to clean his son up a bit before meeting back up with Rita and Dash. It wasn't very successful. Robbie had also gotten a few good splashes on Francis as a show of solidarity towards Tito during an argument, which he'd found greatly amusing. Nick was lying on the pavement, exhausted from a morning full of new experiences. Bandit sat watching as Robbie and Lily played chase (not at high speed because they were very tired) around Einstein's legs.

"Daddy, look what I got!" Dash called as she and Rita approached the others. She ran over to Dodger, tail wagging, and proudly showed him the wallet she had taken.

Dodger put his paws around his little daughter as she licked his face.

"She's a natural Dodger, you should have seen her." Rita said smiling as she reached them.

"You're not scared anymore, huh Dashie?" Dodger asked the pup who had joined in the game with her brother and sister.

"Nope, I'm not scared at all!"

Rita turned to the pups and saw the state Robbie was in.

"Rascal! What have you been doing?" she asked, shocked at the extreme scruffiness of her son, who was grinning away.

"I was playing with paint, it was so much fun!"

"You know I'm going to have to give you a bath when we get back!"

Robbie looked mortified.

"..And a justly deserved bath that will be!" added Francis, who was still a little cross about having his face splashed with blue paint.

Fagin rolled up, and was pleased to see that the little puppies were already bringing in loot. Rita climbed into the trolley, carrying a sleepy Nick, and the other puppies joined them. After they arrived back at the boat, four of the five puppies quickly fell asleep, curled up together. Rita lay beside them, and licked her naughty little son Robbie clean. Robbie struggled through is bath, but found his eyelids drooping and fell asleep between Rita's paws.

Rita looked at the five puppies snuggled up with her, and thought how very proud she was of them. She looked each one and laid her head down for a midday snooze.


	4. A Visit to the Foxworths'

At eight weeks old the puppies were no longer sharing Dodger and Rita's bed, the girls now slept in Rita's old bed, and the boys in Dodger's. It was nice to have a bit more room to stretch out, and a bit more extra time to lie in. As Fagin started to get up, Rita rose and gently woke her puppies ready for the day ahead. Bandit was very sleepy and not at all pleased at the idea of getting up early.

"Come on sleepy head, you can't stay in bed all day." she said, licking the side of his head as he gave a small yawn. Robbie and Nick were already getting up, and clambering over their mother's back.

"Please Mommy, just five more minutes!" he pleaded sleepily. Rita picked him up and carried him across the boat to where his two sisters were playing. By now everyone was awake, it is very difficult to sleep with boisterous puppies bouncing and banging all around you.

Everyone was excited and looking forward to visiting the Foxworths later in the morning. The pups thought very highly of their Uncle Oliver, and loved being cuddled and played with by Jenny.

The puppies all had baths before they left, Tito had warned them that Georgette was known for surprise bath attacks and they all felt it would be better to be clean beforehand to avoid such an occurrence. Luckily, their father and 'uncles' were on hand to help in the cleaning-the-puppies-up department.

Tito didn't really put much effort in and Nick was able to trot off looking scarcely different to before. Einstein gave Dash a very slobbery bath. She closed her eyes tight and could not wait for it to be over.

"Of all the ragamuffins to end up with, oh why did I find myself with this one?" Francis grumbled as he tried to wrestle Robbie into stillness. He really was not a fan of getting cleaned up.

"Hey Francis, I'll trade ya." Dodger took the squirming pup from the rather flustered Bulldog, and the much less fidgety Lily allowed Francis to give her a bath.

"All right boys, time to go!" Fagin called to the dogs, scooping Dash up into his arms and heading out to his scooter, into which the canines squished themselves into.

Jenny was waiting eagerly at the window with Oliver on her lap, who was greatly looking forward to seeing his friends again. He'd not seen the pups since they were very small, so was curious to see how much they'd grown in the meantime. Georgette was hiding in her room, not keen on the idea of getting bombarded by a load of smelly mongrel puppies.

Jenny and Oliver rushed to the door at the sound of the doorbell and welcomed in their guests.

"Hey kid, how're ya goin'?" Dodger scuffed Oliver playfully over the head.

"I'm pretty good, it's great to see you Dodger!" Oliver replied, as he was greeted by the sniffing noses of several curious puppies, "Wow, the pups sure are getting big."

"Me and Bandit are the _biggest_!" said Robbie, bouncing up and down.

"Robbie, can you calm down a bit, you're gonna knock poor Oliver over!" Rita scolded.

"Oh," Robbie looked a little sheepish, "Sorry Mom... sorry Oliver."

"That's alright, and yes, you _are _very big, almost bigger than me." the cat said.

Robbie puffed his chest out proudly.

Meanwhile, Lily and Nick were heading upstairs towards Georgette's room.

"Hey Tito, we're gonna call Georgette to give you a bath!" Lily teased as they ran.

"Don't you even think about it, OK?" Tito followed the pups up the stairs.

Georgette was not in the least bit impressed to have a couple of puppies trot into her immaculate bedroom. She shrieked loudly, and then saw Tito behind them.

"Oh, Alonzo darling, would you kindly remove these.. er.." Georgette thought for a moment and decided to refrain from any insults, "_..children _from this room." She finished with an awful scowl.

Giggling, the two pups rushed further into the room, and Nick even had the cheek to disrupt and jump in Georgette's previously tidy bed.

"Hey Nicky man, get down from there!"

Nick reluctantly came down, Georgette hastily stepped away as he walked past her.

"They're not gonna give ya fleas baby!" Tito laughed as he saw the look on Georgette's face.

The three dogs headed out, and found Robbie playing on the impressive staircase. He loved bouncing and bumping down the stairs at home, and was delighted with the much larger one in the Foxworths' house.

The others were downstairs, Jenny was playing the piano with the help of Oliver and Dodger, who was playing it with his tail. Dash was intrigued and jumped onto the piano as well to give it a go herself. Dodger was very impressed by his offspring's contribution. Jenny picked the puppy up and sat her on the stool next to her. Dash hit the keys with her paws and howled along, she was having a marvellous time.

As the time came for Fagin and his dogs to leave, he talked to Winston as they headed to the door, after a great morning of watching the wrestling.

"You know, if Jenny wants to, she's welcome to keep one of the pups when they're a bit older. I obviously can't keep them all forever."

"Well, I'll have to talk to Mr and Mrs Foxworth about that, I'm sure Jenny would be thrilled. I shan't tell her anything until I've talked to her parents though." the butler replied, before adding, "I'm not sure Georgette would be too impressed with the idea though!"

Rita had been listening and was very quiet. She knew that there was no way all five puppies could stay with the gang when they grew up, but at the same time, the thought of sending them away was terrible, and something Rita had avoided thinking about where possible. With Fagin's words, she knew that it was getting nearer to the time when they _had _to think about it, however upsetting it may be. She made up her mind to to talk to Dodger about it later.

With a sigh, Rita followed the others outside. Dodger had noticed that she was looking a bit down.

"You ok Rita baby?" he asked her quietly.

"Yeah, I'm fine Dodge. Can we talk a bit later?" she said, forcing a convincing smile.

"Sure." Dodger licked her cheek and gave her a signature cocky grin, which made her smile too, a real one this time.

They all squashed into the trolley part of the scooter and set off into the busy streets.


	5. A New Friend

Still excited from the morning's visit to the Foxworths, the pups were in high spirits as they set out with their extended family to work the streets. Today the gang split into two groups to work, Dodger and Rita took Bandit, Robbie and Lily with them and the two littler ones, Nicky and Dash set off with their uncles. Francis was very relieved that he didn't have to look after Robbie again, as he could be such a pest. Tito was a little disappointed for the same reason.

Lily was an excellent student and took great pleasure in learning from watching her parents, she was very happy to be spending the afternoon with them, even if Robbie and Bandit did have to come along as well. She had become something of a star pupil as she was such a fast learner, she was especially keen to follow Dodger's example as she looked up to him a lot. The two boys were more easily distracted and Rita had to keep a watchful eye on them in case they wandered off.

While Lily and Bandit paid close attention to their father, Robbie was amusing himself with a muddy puddle, which he was greatly enjoying running through and jumping in. He suddenly had the feeling he was being watched- by someone other than his mother that is- and turned around to see a female puppy creeping up towards him, making him jump. As the stranger approached, Robbie made an attempt to get rid of her, by splashing her with the muddy water and barking impressively. The stranger squealed and ran away, and Robbie felt rather pleased with himself. That was, until the other puppy came running back and jumped into the puddle herself, getting Robbie very wet.

"Mom! There's a _girl_!" Robbie sounding completely disgusted.

"She looks nice enough, why don't you play with her." Rita replied, having been watching them from a little distance.

Robbie looked over at the stranger who was now rolling about on her back in his puddle.

"But I'm a boy..." He couldn't believe that his mother wanted him to play with a girl, playing with his sisters was one thing, but some strange puppy was an entirely different matter. Robbie went over and hid behind Dodger, and started listening to pick pocketing tips.

The stranger didn't seem at all fazed by the rejection and continued to play in her own company. She was rather fluffy, with ears that flopped all over the place. Her blue-grey fur had patches of tan and white and she had a tiny stumpy tail which was constantly moving. Now wet and muddy from head to tail, the puppy bounded over to where Robbie was standing. Lily did her best to ignore the newcomer, she was focussed on her father, and Robbie screwed up his nose and backed away.

Rita sighed, not wanting the stranger's feelings to be hurt. but felt somewhat relieved that her scruffy son clearly had not inherited Dodger's flirtatious ways.

Bandit was curious about the she-puppy and greeted her in a play bow, to which she responded immediately, jumping at him merrily.

"Hello! Do you want to be friends? You look fun!" the puppy said, or rather shouted, she was a rather loud child.

"Sure, if you can catch me!" Bandit made to get out of the way and invited her into a game of chase, and soon found himself dripping wet as the stranger had a habit of dragging him into puddles and splashing him.

It came time to move on, and Rita wasn't keen to leave the lone puppy behind.

"What's your name sweetie? Do you have any family around looking after you?"

The puppy stopped bounding around for a brief moment.

"My name's Halo. My daddy was looking out for me but I lost him a little while ago. I'm not scared of being on my own though."

Dodger came over to meet Halo, with the other two puppies following behind (Robbie still didn't look too sure). Halo squirmed around and jumped to give him a hug- and Robbie jumped back quickly.

"Do you want to come along with us until he finds you? I think Bandit might like that."

"Yes, please, please come Halo!" Bandit begged, tail wagging.

"Yay! More playing!" she said and went to introduce herself to Lily and Robbie.

As the family went through a row of bins in an alleyway, the puppies all played chase together. Robbie found it wasn't really too bad to play with a strange girl, especially as now she was most interested in playing with her new best friend, Bandit. Lily had a great time, as Halo could never quite catch her, and got rather cocky. Halo was not nearly as coordinated and tended to crash into things in her enthusiasm. Bandit was overjoyed with his new friend and even when the others had gotten bored, he play wrestled with Halo under Rita's watchful eye and eventually when he'd been exhausted by Halo's boundless energy, sat and talked with her.

It made Rita very happy to see her pups making friends. It was a relief to have something to take her mind off the morning's happenings. Lily was doing so well, it made Rita so proud to see her daughter working alongside Dodger so happily. She wondered how they'd ever cope when the time came for the pups to leave, and how they'd make sure the best thing for the puppies would be done.

Rita's thoughts were interrupted by Robbie's muffled cries, he'd managed to get his head and front legs stuck in a large discarded biscuit tin.

"Oh Rascal, what are you doing?" Rita laughed, and gently helped her son out. Robbie emerged licking his lips.

"I got the last biscuit Mom!" he announced proudly. Bandit and Halo looked very impressed, and sniffed eagerly for crumbs.

"Halo! I've been looking everywhere for you, what are you playing at?" came a deep voice.

Looking around, the family saw a thin Australian Shepherd, who was relieved to see his daughter safe and sound.

"Daddy!" Halo cried, rushing over and bounced up and down in front of her stressed father.

Bandit looked over his shoulder after his new friend, feeling unusually sad. He'd never had a special friend of his very own, and certainly had never met anyone quite as energetic and friendly as Halo, and although he was sure it wouldn't be the case, he felt a worry that he'd not see her again. He looked up to his mother walking alongside him, and couldn't help notice that she was looking a little sad too. Bandit walked closer and nudged Rita's leg with his muzzle.

"Are you OK honey? You know you're going to see her again, her dad's told me where they live, I'll take you to see her again soon."

"You promise, nothing to worry about?"

"I promise." Rita replied, and talking to herself as much as her son added softly, "Nothing to worry about at all."


End file.
